Like the Tide
by A. Zap
Summary: Out of everyone he knew, Keith thought that Lance would be the person who would never leave him. After all, Lance is always there for everyone and he tries so hard... But even Lance has limits, and when you don't appreciate something, you lose it. And now Keith just has to accept that and face the consequences of that. (Hints of Klance, but it's mostly just pining.)
1. Chapter 1 - Receeding Waters

Keith stared up at the rickety house before him. Part of him had always hoped that he would come here, but he had never imagined actually doing so. Especially not under these circumstances.

Sure, Lance had invited all of them to come visit his home once they made it back to Earth. Lance had nudged him, a smile lighting up his face, the first time he had done so, back before the battle they thought would end Zarkon and this war. "My mom will totally adopt all of you! She'll stuff you with so much food that you won't be able to move for a week!" He had chattered on and on about all that they would do.

Once they began to make their way back in order to rebuild the castle, Lance had offered again. It had been a bit more subdued, more quiet, but his small smile had been genuine still.

And then Lance had offered to bring them back one more time before he'd left to visit them once they were here. But Pidge was caught up with her own family reunion and Hunk's had managed to join them at the Garrison, and both of them were dealing with rebuilding the castle. Coran was helping with that, and Allura and Shiro had been focusing on establishing a formal alliance and building bridges between their team and the Garrison. Considering he was currently piloting Black while Shiro's new arm was being built by the Olkari, Keith had been forced to join them. He'd been able to see Lance off though, and Keith remembered that this time, he hadn't been smiling. He seemed almost sad before he'd taken off on an actual plane, instead of using one of the Lions, to get home.

Keith should have known something was up at that moment.

Still, Lance had kept in contact. He'd texted, he'd emailed, he'd done video calls, he'd done all of the duties that they sent him.

But he hadn't come back. And Lance didn't mention when he was going to come back.

Keith hadn't thought that he _wouldn't_ come back though.

Not until that video conference.

* * *

_The entire team had been assembled in the Garrison conference room, going over the reports and finalizing when exactly they would be able to be able to leave as Shiro's arm had been fully installed and adjusted and Team Punk along with Coran and Allura were wrapping up on the Castleship 2.0. Lance was up on the TV screen in order to join them, wearing his usual jacket but a different shirt than what Keith had grown to associate with him. Everything was fine up until Keith asked when he would be joining them so they could all leave._

_Lance blinked, obviously surprised at the question. Keith didn't know why until he opened up his mouth. "Oh, I'm not leaving with you guys."_

_Utter silence._

_Everyone stared at Lance, shock on their faces. Glancing around, Keith knew that for once it wasn't his social skills that led to him not seeing this coming, because no one here had._

_"__What?" Pidge was the first to break out of the stunned state they'd fallen into. Her face shifted and her eyes narrowed at the screen._

_"__I thought you guys knew?" Lance awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I told you all before I started planning my trip home. And I sent a formal email to Shiro and Allura." He glanced away from the screen. His voice became a mumble, but Keith still heard him say, "I guess it's my bad for not making sure you were paying attention."_

_"__Lance, what - I don't - " Hunk struggled to put his thoughts together as he wrung his hands together and was clearly unable to make a full sentence. Keith couldn't blame him._

_But luckily, Keith was not having the same problem._

_"__Lance, what do you mean you're not coming back?" Keith asked, staring him down as best as he could through the video screen._

_Lance's face fell and Keith could practically feel his frustration as he sighed. "Look, Keith, we've talked about this."_

_Immediately, Keith found himself on the receiving end of everyone's glares. Well, not quite everyone was glaring. Pidge most definitely was scowling at him, but the others' expressions ranged from Hunk's shock and disappointment to Shiro's mild confusion. Still, he couldn't help but flinch, and he didn't know whether it was from the others turning to him for an explanation or that he knew exactly which conversation Lance was referencing._

_"__The math still stands." Lance explained simply. "Six paladins, five lions. You want the best of the best piloting them, and that's you all." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "So I think it's time for me to take a step back."_

_"__Lance - " Keith had thought that this had all been resolved back when Lance had approached him in his bedroom. It was with hindsight that he realized that maybe he hadn't said things in the best way, but he thought that he'd gotten through to Lance how important he was._

_Well, he'd grown since then. Maybe now he could - _

_"__Lance, buddy, you can't really think that!" Hunk interrupted him before Keith could say anything more than Lance's name._

_Lance raised an eyebrow. "Am I wrong?" He ticked off his fingers and as he drove his reasoning home, he looked at each of them one by one. "Shiro, your bond with Black is so strong that he saved you from dying and you're the essential leader. Pidge and Hunk, your technology and engineering skills are indispensable both on and off the battlefield. Keith, you're the best pilot among us and you've always pulled through when the chips are down. Coran's knowledge and advice are always needed, especially with diplomatic niceties. And Allura's magic and her progress with Blue have been phenomenal, so much faster than when I piloted her." Lance leaned back a bit as he finished, his hands dropping. "Anything I can possibly add to the team, someone else can easily do. If we can afford having anyone taking a back seat, it's me."_

_It was pretty much everything Keith had heard before, even if it was a bit more detailed this time. It kind of shocked him sometimes how highly Lance thought of them all, and he always made sure they all knew it. And yet, despite the boasts that Keith remembers Lance making way back in the beginning, he seemed kind of down on himself._

_Did Lance really not get what he did for the team?_

_"__Lance," Shiro calmly called out, directing Lance's attention to him. Part of Keith was glad that he was here to take the lead because he had always been so much better at human interaction, and since he obviously screwed up last time, Shiro was sure to get things right._

_"__I'm not going to force you to come back."_

_The words took a second to register with Keith. His head snapped around to glare at Shiro, "Wait, what?!"_

_He swiftly realized that he may have been wrong to rely on Shiro to get Lance to come back._

_"__However," Shiro continued, ignoring Keith and everyone else's stares, "I want you to think this through. We've all had to give up things to continue the fight, and I can understand if you don't want to fight anymore. Just please - "_

_"__Are you saying that I should think about whether or not I'm willing to give up my life for this?" Suddenly, Lance looked exhausted, making him appear much older. Keith had never seen him so rundown before, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders._

_They all shifted uncomfortably at that, pointedly not looking at Shiro, who Keith knew had already died once. It had made it clearer than ever before that they all could be lost in this war._

_Well, actually Keith noticed from the corner of his eye that Allura's expression was different. Her thoughtful and worried gaze had landed on Lance and she looked as if she was standing in the way of a crashing train. As if she could see what was coming, and it was terrible, but she couldn't change it._

_"__In a way, yes." Shiro finally answered._

_"__Do you - " Lance paused and his eyes flickered back and forth as he studied all of them, that weary appearance draped more heavily over his normally exuberant attitude. Keith wasn't sure what he was looking for, but apparently he didn't find it. "None of the rest of you know, do you?"_

_Keith frowned, and he knew his expression was mirrored on Pidge and Hunk's faces at least. "Know what?" He hated that the question came out more like a demand, but Lance was setting all the alarm bells in his guts off._

_Lance was quiet before he smiled. It wasn't his usual smile that always made the universe seem brighter. It was bitter and twisted and Keith never wanted to see it on Lance's face again. "And here I thought that everyone knew and just didn't want to talk about it. I mean, Keith and Shiro get passes as they weren't there but - " He ran his hand over his face. "You didn't even notice."_

_Shiro frowned. "Lance, what - "_

_"__You're asking me if I'm willing to give my life to this." Lance interrupted him, not a usual tactic from him and the clamor in Keith's soul rose a bit higher. Lance stared at them all, but then his gaze settled on one person in particular. "But technically I already have."_

_Everyone followed his eyes and stared at Allura. Keith didn't know what was going on, but she clearly did._

_And Allura looked horrified._

_Then, Lance's words fully registered. Keith's head snapped back to him. "Wait, Lance, you - "_

_Before he could continue, yells could be heard on Lance's end, making him look up. "Sorry about all… this." Lance gestured to them all. "I, uh, I gotta go. I'll talk to you all later." Lance's smile wasn't bitter anymore, more tentative and sad than anything else, as he gave a final wave goodbye and the video call ended._

_Silence engulfed the room in the wake of Lance's revelations. But Keith at least needed to understand. He needed to know what had led to this._

_Keith turned to Allura, a fire ignited in his gut and his hands curled into fists. He ignored the way she looked sick to her stomach as he practically growled._

_"__What the hell happened to Lance." This time, it definitely wasn't a question. It was a demand._

_Allura's eyes darted between all of them before she steadied herself and took a deep breath._

_She told them._

_To say that Keith was unhappy would have been a gross understatement._

* * *

Quite frankly, Keith still was not happy at all. However, he'd placed his anger at Allura, at Sendak, at this whole messed up situation on the backburner because there were more important things on hand.

And if Lance wasn't going to come back, then he'd have to go to him. Plus, it'd be a lot harder for Lance to slip away when Keith was right in front of him.

Which lead to him standing in front of Lance's house, trying to work up the courage to knock.

To delay the inevitable, Keith studied Lance's home for a moment. It was exactly like Lance had described it. It was old, having been in his family for generations, but it looked well loved and taken care of. Keith had been surprised at how close it was to the beach, not even a five minute walk away, and the yard was filled with discarded bikes, scooters, surf boards, and all manner of toys. Next to a small barn and chicken coop in the back, Keith could already see Kaltenecker out and chewing soulfully as if completely at ease. Even from his place outside, Keith could hear voices, shouting, but no one sounded angry. Everything about this place screamed life and Keith could see how it was much more appealing that the cold apathy of space.

But he still needed Lance to come back.

As he walked up the porch steps, Keith thought back to how surprising it was that he was the only one to come. Shiro hadn't approved so he knew he wouldn't come, and Coran seemed to be of the same mind though he'd looked sad about it, but Allura, Hunk, Pidge… They had all appeared pensive and quietly admitted that they didn't think Lance would want to see them. Keith felt like he was out of the loop, like they knew something he didn't.

Keith didn't get it.

Didn't they know how badly they all needed Lance? They had to get him back.

And it was with that conviction that finally encouraged Keith to briskly knock at the door. Shouts went back and forth from within, and Keith tapped his foot and rolled his eyes, waiting for _someone_ to answer the door. He sighed when it finally opened but as he looked at the person opening the door, he did a double take.

It was truly a testament how long and far he had gotten used to the weirdness of space that his first thought was, _Quiznak, Lance has been turned into a kid._ Because it really did look like a mini-Lance opening the door. Tanned skin that reminded Keith of sun-baked clay, brown hair that curled slightly at the tips, even the unimpressed expression on his face as he raised an eyebrow at Keith in a silent question screamed of Lance.

However, once Keith met the boy's eyes, he quickly realized that no, this was not a mini-Lance, de-aged, cloned, or otherwise. Instead of bright blue ocean eyes staring up at him, a set of earthy brown eyes peered at him instead.

Keith tried to ignore the relief running through him. Maybe he was a bit jumpier after the whole clone thing after all.

Wait, the kid was speaking to him.

"¿Quién eres?" The kid frowned up at him, his skepticism a perfect mirror to Lance's when he was suspicious. "¿Qué quieres?"

"Uh…" Keith stared back. One would think that growing up in the American Southwest, Keith would have learned how to speak Spanish, especially during those few years when he was in foster care. However, he'd only ever picked up the basics, so he only caught a few words. "Um, I'm, uh, Keith? Y'know from - from Voltron?" He really hoped that Lance had told them about Voltron and his words were getting through.

The boy blinked and comprehension seemed to pass along his face. Keith felt hope surge as the boy lifted a finger to point at him and with a cheeky grin called out, in perfect English:

"Mullet!"

Keith's entire being froze in place. And then his eye twitched just a little as he tried to keep a somewhat pleasant smile on his face.

Yes, this was most definitely one of Lance's relatives.

Luckily for the kid, before Keith could attempt a reply, the boy looked over his shoulder and shouted into the house. "¡Tío Leandro!"

Keith frowned and opened his mouth to protest, because he had no clue who this Leandro guy he was calling for was. If he recognized Keith, he should be calling for Lance instead. However, no words came out and Keith's heart stuttered as from the depths of the house he heard a familiar whine. "¿Qué?

"¡Tu novio está aquí!"

Keith furrowed his brow as he tried to decipher the words. He had caught that he was telling Lance (or Leandro? What was up with this name game...) he was here, but he wasn't quite sure what the kid had called him.

A loud thump distracted Keith though and he glanced up at the ceiling at the shriek of "¡¿Qué?!" that rang through the house. This was followed by even louder thumps until Lance rounded around the bottom of a staircase, huffing and puffing and staring at the front door with wide eyes and a red face.

For a moment, Keith just marveled at being in his presence again. It had been months since Keith had seen him other than through a video screen, and simply being here, knowing Lance was in reach, seemed to steady something inside that he hadn't even realized was off kilter.

Lance took in the scene in mere seconds, and then he turned a pout towards the boy. "Sylvio…"

"¡Tu novio!" The same teasing grin that Lance often wore lit up the boy's, making Lance's pout turn into a scowl.

"No es mi novio." Lance rolled his eyes as his words didn't deter the smirk he was greeted with. "Sylvio, tu abuela te necesita."

The boy's grin fell. "No, ella - "

"Ve." Lance's tone made it clear that he wasn't joking about whatever he was saying. The boy was now the one scowling as he scurried away. And Keith finally found himself once more at the receiving end of Lance's attention.

"Hey," Lance said, the red finally fading from his cheeks as a smile spread over his lips. "You should have let me know you were coming, I would've come out to meet you!"

"Well, I didn't know when I'd be coming." Keith admitted. "I'm just glad that I got the message across to your…"

"Nephew." Lance confirmed, with a nod. His brow scrunched up a bit. "But what do you mean by 'got the message across'?"

"Well, I know you all speak Spanish, so…" He trailed off as Lance bit his lip, eyes shining. "What?" It almost looked like Lance was holding back laughter.

"Keith…" Keith narrowed his eyes as Lance's tone confirmed he was holding back. "While Spanish is the primary language of our house, with the exception of my grandparents, everyone else is bilingual and knows English."

Keith stared. His eye twitched.

That kid was definitely a relative of Lance's. Lance's obvious struggle to contain his snickers was not helping.

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He should be past this. He'd grown up a lot since the Garrison days. He could be mature. He could do this.

When he opened his eyes, Lance was no longer shaking with suppressed laughter, but the wide grin remained. "Anyway," he said, "come on in. Mi casa es tu casa." He took a step back to wave him in.

"Lance." And his tone made Lance pause as he looked back at him. "We need to talk."

Lance's face fell into the serious expression Keith was used to from when it was time for a mission. Lance opened his mouth to answer, but -

"Oooooo." Keith jumped at the sound and looked up to see two girls, older than both him and Lance, leaning over the railing of the staircase with Lance's signature teasing grin on their faces.

God, that had to be genetic.

Lance tossed them a flat, unimpressed glance before rolling his eyes and tugging at Keith's hand. "Should've known you're not the type to just visit. Come on; if you want to talk, there's no way we'll get privacy here."

Keith followed Lance but he did look back as one of the girls wolf-whistled at their retreat. He squinted a bit. The one with the short hair and glasses looked somewhat familiar, as if he'd seen her before. Maybe at the Garrison… ?

No, that couldn't be it.

Keith turned forward and as Lance lead the way on the winding path towards the beach, Keith took the time to really get a good look at Lance.

Lance looked really good. His skin was tanner than ever, darkened by the sun, and he could clearly see it as instead of the usual long sleeved shirt, jacket, and jeans he was used to, Lance was wearing a tank top and shorts. Keith blinked as he noted freckles dusting Lance's nose and shoulders like scattered stars. He wondered if Lance always had traces of those or if they only appeared here where the sun could easily draw them out. Lance had also gotten a haircut at some point; his hair had gotten a bit ragged by the time they had returned to Earth, but now it was back to how it'd been when they'd started their adventure. But most importantly, Lance's eyes had a spark in them that, now that Keith thought about it, he wasn't sure when it had disappeared from Lance's gaze.

Lance took no notice of Keith's studying as he absently hummed. It was only as they arrived at the beach that both Keith and Lance even realized that he was still holding onto Keith. Keith chuckled at the flustered way Lance dropped his hand, red tinting his cheeks.

"Anyway," Lance brushed aside the awkwardness as he stepped forward enough so the waves splashed over his toes, "this part of the beach is usually quiet, so if you want to talk business, this is a lot better than the house."

Keith shook and pulled himself together. This was not the time to stare at Lance when he intended to leave. "Listen, Lance, we need to talk about this leaving thing."

Lance snorted as he took a step back and then plopped onto the sand, leaning back on his hands. "As if you have any right to talk about leaving." He said, and Keith just barely caught the bitter tone in Lance's voice and his scowl.

Keith frowned right back. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"_You_ left."

Any argument that Keith had died in his throat. He wondered if this was why the others hadn't come, because they all knew that Lance would have some sort of argument against each of them, one that would hit right where it hurt. Lance always tended to know more than he let on, but usually he would avoid any real painful blows.

Because Lance was right.

Still -

"Yeah, but I - " Keith began to protest.

"Don't bother." Lance interrupted him this time, looking away so Keith couldn't see his face. "You already told us everything when you left."

Keith's face scrunched up. Lance sounded more bitter than Pidge's black coffee. He would've sworn that Lance hadn't been that bitter when he left. "I thought you were fine with me leaving."

"You thought - " Lance whirled to face him, sand spraying up slightly at the force of his turn, and Keith flinched at the anger in his eyes. "You thought I was fine? You thought I was fine that just when I think we're finally getting along, that I was connecting with you, that I had someone who treated me as an equal, you just up and decided to leave us?! That you didn't even talk about it with me beforehand?! That it turns out that all the effort I put in trying to make things easier for you, to keep the team together, was useless because apparently you didn't care?! And of all things, you wanted to fully join the Blades! _The Blades!_"

Keith stared at Lance, but it was like Lance couldn't even see him anymore. The words flowed from his mouth like poison from a wound, a hurtful process necessary to cleanse the body and soul.

"The Blades who are the absolute worst when it comes to teamwork, because for all their preaching, they really aren't that different from their opponents. Only the strong survive and the weak get left behind. They leave behind people, claiming that it's necessary, and that could so easily have been you! It almost was you, because don't think that Matt didn't tell us about Naxzela!" Lance punched an accusing finger up at Keith. "And then they wonder why their organization is dying and why they have so few members, when it's because they allow crap like that to happen!" Lance was panting from the force of his words, and Keith took note that the other boy was practically trembling from emotion.

As if fully realizing what he said, how much he had revealed, Lance blinked and turned away again, sitting criss-cross and his hands curling into fists on his lap. "So, long story short, no, I was not fine with you leaving, but I let you go because I thought that was what you wanted." He sniffed slightly and Keith couldn't tell if Lance was on the verge of tears or just being dramatic. "I thought you'd at least give me the same courtesy."

Keith hadn't known. He had never had a clue that this was how Lance felt. Lance was always so open, so ready with a smile or a comforting hand, that it had never occurred to Keith that Lance hid anything away.

Lance had seemed as sad about him leaving as the others, but Keith hadn't thought that it would affect him so much personally. Then, again, Lance did seem ecstatic to see him when he returned, at least until Keith had to brush him off so they could all focus on the situation at hand.

And thinking back further, he should have already known that Lance had hidden depths when he had first shown up at his doorstep with worries and his pinky still up to illustrate that there was an extra.

The extra that Lance had been convinced was actually himself.

Lance gave a wet snort, shaking Keith out of his thoughts. "Heck, it should've been me to step aside in the first place." He muttered, as if his mind had also been back at that moment in Keith's bedroom.

Here, at least, was something that Keith could protest. "No, Lance, the team needs - "

"The team needs _you_." Lance interrupted him. That was turning into a bad habit of Lance's, Keith couldn't help but think as Lance turned to him with somber eyes. "I'm just - you - " he huffed a bit as he gathered his thoughts " - do you really think that it's a coincidence that everything fell apart after you left and things only started going well again once you came back?"

Keith blankly blinked at him. No, that hadn't even occurred to him.

Lance ran his hand down his face and sighed deeply. "Listen, Keith, I know you mean well, but you severely overestimate my importance to the team." Lance's eyes never left Keith's. "I don't know if anyone's told you about how things were while you were gone, but let me tell how things were with me.

"Pidge and Hunk have been getting closer ever since we got into space. And there's so much tech, and it's so hard to find someone on the same wavelength, that they'd often get wrapped up in what they were doing. They hung out a lot." He looked away and Keith noticed that his hands were trembling slightly as he rubbed his arm a bit. "I don't think they meant to exclude me, but they kind of did. And they didn't mean to hurt me when they teased, but they would make fun of things I cared about and they didn't notice when I stopped laughing. They really know how to make a guy feel even dumber than usual."

Keith's breath caught in his throat. If that was just with Pidge and Hunk, the people Keith had thought were Lance's best friends, then how much worse could it get.

"Allura and I started getting closer after you left. We'd sometimes train together, but even then she was usually busy with diplomatic stuff and leading the Coalition. And then with Lotor…" Lance's expression grew bitter. "I never really trusted him. He just felt… slimy. And despite saying he was our ally and giving up _some_ information, never too much and only what was relevant at the time, he never made any moves to dissolve the empire or change things or actually help people. And he and Allura became… close. She didn't have time for anything but her duties and him." His hand was clenching his arm so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. "I didn't trust him, but everyone said I was just jealous. And I heard it enough times that… I believed that was all." Lance snorted. "And with everything that went down, with all the pain he ended up causing, it would just be wrong to say, 'I told you so.'

"And then Shiro - " Lance cut off, glancing back at Keith before soldering on " - except for a few moments, he made sure that I knew _exactly _how much I was worth to the team. And it didn't amount to much."

"Lance," Keith tried to protest, but the more Lance spoke, the more his stomach sank, "that wasn't really Shiro."

The look Lance gave him was almost pitying. "Shiro never really took my opinions into account. The clone was just a lot more blunt about that, and Haggar made him more mean in general, especially towards me.

"Anyway, with all that going on - it became really clear that I don't really contribute." Lance turned towards the ocean once more, his eyes gazing out at something in the distance as his hand fell to support him against the sand. "I tried my best to keep things together, to keep the team going but it all just - Poosh." He splayed his other hand in an explosion gesture. "They need you, not me." Lance chuckled a bit. "I'm just - a placeholder. There to make do until something or someone better comes along."

"I don't think you're a placeholder." Keith said softly, almost to himself, but Lance caught the words and threw him a sad, but fond look.

"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true, Keith."

And Keith knew that. He never thought he'd have to apply that to Lance of all people.

Silence fell between them. Lance had said his piece and Keith mind whirled as he tried to make sense of everything.

At least it made sense now why no one else had come. Why no one had thought they'd be welcomed. Keith got the feeling that it hadn't hit them until just now, when faced with the consequences, but it was abundantly clear:

The team had not treated Lance very well in Keith's absence.

The very thought made Keith's blood simmer in his veins.

It was no wonder that Lance didn't want to come back. He'd experienced it enough when he was in the system that if it was clear that you were unwanted, if others treated you like crap, if you felt unneeded, then there really was no reason to continue going there. It's part of why Keith had been bounced around so much in the years between his father's death and meeting Shiro. He couldn't believe that the team had made Lance feel like that.

And yet, the evidence was there before him.

"Lance, I know you probably don't feel like it's true, but we do need you." Keith pushed.

"Nah, not really. Ask anyone." Lance didn't look at him as he shrugged. "I'm the dumb one who's no more than a pretty face. I could hear people talking about it, at diplomatic stuff, wondering what exactly my role on the team was." He frowned. "There really wasn't much to tell them."

Keith scowled. He'd always hated those types of events, partly because they'd be full of people who knew nothing about what it was like on the front lines like the team often was situated.

"You know," Lance laughed a bit, but it was so downcast that it could hardly be counted as such, even as he tilted his head back to look at Keith again, "funnily enough, I think you were the only one who ever treated me seriously. Who actually treated me like I could contribute."

_And you left._

Neither of them said it.

Lance turned back to look at the ocean, and a flash of lighter brown caught his eye and he directed his gaze at it.

Along the edges of Lance's tank top, Keith could just barely see the edges of the starburst shaped scar that Keith knew covered a majority of Lance's back. It was probably Lance's oldest scar, back from when he'd protected Coran from that bomb and been on the brink of death.

It wasn't Lance's only scar.

They were all faint, with the exception of his back scar, due to the wonders of the healing pods, but as Keith's eyes traced over Lance's exposed skin, he picked up the healed remains of stab wounds, laser blasts, falling debris. Several of them Keith could recall Lance getting. Others, Keith had no clue where or when Lance got them.

And Keith's heart seized as he noticed, so faint that the only reason Keith noticed was because they caught in the light as Lance shifted his arms and hands to his lap, thin lichtenberg scars crawling up from his hands and over his forearms. And he knew that they were from when Lance died.

Keith finally slumped down in the sand next to Lance, cradling his head in his hands. He sighed before directing his gaze out into open waves.

Keith had always wanted to leave Earth. And out in space, he'd gained so much. He'd gotten a family in Team Voltron, he'd carved a position and purpose for himself both as a Paladin and a Blade, he'd figured out who he really was, and he'd found his mother. He had gotten everything he'd ever really wanted.

It was just occurring to Keith that while he'd gained everything, Lance had lost everything.

Though Lance had wanted to go to space, he'd wanted to explore. He hadn't wanted to be involved in a millennia old war, but that's what he'd found himself in and he'd accepted that. While out there, he'd lost the family that he loved so dearly. He'd lost his best friends as they got wrapped up in each other and in their shared interests that didn't include him. He'd lost his new friend the moment someone else came along. He'd lost his hero as he realized said hero didn't take him seriously.

Lance had lost Keith by supporting what Keith wanted, even if it had been against his better judgement.

Lance had lost the Lion who had truly chosen him over anyone else because the team needed him elsewhere.

Lance had lost his very life.

Maybe Lance was right that it was Keith's turn to support him, even if it went against every fiber of Keith's being.

_He's leaving just like everyone else!_ Some part of Keith screamed at him, and he felt a twinge of heat at that, because out of everyone, Keith had firmly believed that Lance would never leave him.

Then again…

_Part of why he's leaving is because I left first._

He had never wanted to put someone through the pain that he had been put through, but it turned out that he had done just that to the person he had wanted to hurt the least. To stop him would be hypocritical at this point.

"What are you even going to do?" Keith asked, resigned. He couldn't even imagine what Lance would do if he wasn't piloting a Lion, and he wondered what that meant in regards to how well he knew Lance.

Lance perked up beside him as he blinked at him for a moment. And then his shoulders relaxed. It was only then that Keith noticed how tense Lance was, even if he'd been putting on a fairly nonchalant air.

"Well, I've been offered a position with the Garrison." Lance stated, his fingers fiddling with each other. "Professor Wolff came and talked to me about it after he got my email about officially stepping down from Voltron that I sent to Shiro and the Garrison when I first came back here. Though Veronica's trying to steer me into helping more with communications than with piloting and strategies like he's suggesting."

_Professor Wolff?_ Keith's eyes narrowed as it fully hit him. _Adam!_

He couldn't believe the man had stolen back Shiro's heart despite everything that had gone down between them, and now he had gone behind their backs and tried to steal Lance for the Garrison. The nerve of him!

_When I get back to the Garrison, we are going to have a… talk._

"Yeah, Iverson looked like he was on the verge of having an aneurysm when he joined the conference call." Lance snicked a bit. "He always made it clear that I was never going to amount to much. Must have hurt having to ask me for help."

Keith blinked out of plotting Adam's demise like he used to do when he was 16 to tune back in to what Lance was saying. "What?"

Lance huffed a bit, not too surprised by his lapse in attention. "My point is, I'm not bowing out of this war, not totally. I'll probably end up on the Castleship 2.0 at some point - " Keith's heart flipped at his words " - but for now, there's more to be done here on Earth. And I can be closer to my family, too." He glanced back towards his house, before looking Keith in the eye, his expression somber.

"To tell the truth, one of us was going to have to stay." Lance turned to the ocean and leaned his head into his hand. "Commander Holt is great and all, but he spent most of his time among the Galra locked up as a prisoner. They need someone who's actually fought the Galra, who knows exactly what we're up against.

"Maybe I'm wrong and you're right and Voltron does need me, but Keith…" Lance gave Keith a small smile, "I think the Earth needs me more right now."

Keith took his words in for a moment before he sighed. "I understand." And he did, he really did. It was similar to part of why he joined the Blades.

But that didn't mean he liked it.

Silence fell between them as they watched the waves meet and then retreat from the shore. It was quite soothing and looking out over the ocean, Keith couldn't help but think that it was beautiful. This was his first time going to the beach. He'd always wanted to see the ocean that Lance loved so dearly.

He just wished it had been under happier circumstances.

"So how long are you staying?" Lance finally asked. Keith silently debated just leaving right now, since he'd failed his objective, or actually being honest.

"I don't have to be back until tomorrow sometime."

Keith decided to be honest.

Lance lit up, just like he had when Keith had appeared at the door. "Cool! Then you can hang out today and spend the night before you leave in the morning!" Keith hesitated and Lance must have sensed it as he knocked his shoulder against him. "C'mon, you deserve a little break! And this is your first time at the beach, right? You've gotta make the most of it."

Keith gave him a flat look but he couldn't bring himself to deny Lance when he looked so happy. "Fine," he sighed.

"Yes!" Lance's smile dazzled him as he hopped onto his feet and pulled Keith along with him. "Come on! I've got a swimsuit you can borrow, and we'll get you some sunscreen so you don't match Red - "

Keith smiled to himself as Lance babbled on, practically bowled over by his excitement.

" - And you know, if you'd left here without having some of Mamá's cooking, you seriously would've made her cry, man. Then she'd get mad at me for making you feel unwelcome - "

Still, there was a twinge in his heart.

He'd failed.

Lance would be staying on Earth. Lance still didn't get how important he was to Voltron, to the team, to _him._ And Keith didn't know how to make him see that, but it was already too late. Lance had made his decision, and given the circumstances, he couldn't blame him.

"Hey, Keith?"

Keith looked up as Lance addressed him directly. He had that sad/solemn/happy expression on his face again and it made Lance look like he'd been the one to age several years in a messed up time stream.

"Thanks."

Keith stared at him, but nodded his acquiescence. "Don't mention it." He said, because he really didn't want him to thank him. And then Lance was back to normal, chatting away as he pulled him into his house and yelled out that they were going to the beach.

It still ached, it still hurt, but Keith pushed it aside so he could at least enjoy the time he had left with Lance.

It would be fine.

* * *

Lance did come to see them all off. He'd been back at the Garrison to handle his transition to being a member of the staff, despite not graduating, and he'd worked with all of them in the week leading up to the launch of Sekhmet, as the new Castleship had been dubbed.

Despite the fact that he was no longer a part of Team Voltron, his new uniform matched theirs, with its blue color matching his original Lion and armor.

Lance gave each of them a hug and a smile, reassuring them that he'd hold down the fort while they were out in space. Hunk didn't even attempt to hide his tears, and Keith felt his own eyes prickle a bit as he held Lance a bit longer than was maybe appropriate.

He didn't really care.

But he held himself together as Lance waved goodbye, telling himself that this was for the best even if it felt wrong to leave Lance behind once more. He told himself that would be fine.

That all fell apart when Keith entered his new quarters.

On his bed was a familiar looking red jacket, a pair of fingerless gloves, and a note.

Hands trembling, Keith picked up his old red jacket. It looked slightly different, but it was just the same as it had always been. The fingerless gloves were his old ones as well that he hadn't gotten around to replacing. He thought that he'd lost all of them with the Castle.

Keith turned to the note.

_Hey, Keith,_

He instantly knew who it was from.

_Thanks again for all your support. I know you don't agree with me and I know you're not happy about this, but you still supported me. It means a lot to me. I know this is hard for you, but maybe these can help._

_I managed to grab your jacket and gloves when I grabbed my stuff before the Castleship exploded, but I never had a chance to give them back to you. Plus, your jacket probably wouldn't fit with the growth spurt you had. I hope you don't mind, but I adjusted it for you so it should fit again! They don't call me the Tailor for nothing! :) _

_And luckily, your gloves should be fine. I remember you said you got them from your dad and they're adjustable so you can still wear them._

_Anyway, thanks again! Play it safe out there, Samurai; I expect dozens of stories when you get back. We can go back to the beach!_

_Love __Sincerely,_

_Lance Marino-Diaz_

Keith stared at the note. Then he hesitantly slipped on his jacket.

It fit him perfectly.

That was the final straw.

The ache in his heart became a burn as Keith fell upon his bed and curled up in a ball, clutching at the jacket that Lance had always made fun of, but still had taken the time to grab and fix just for him. No one had ever done something like this for Keith. But it was just in Lance's nature to do something so kind and thoughtful for someone else, and then treat it like was no big deal, that it was just what anyone would do.

And now Lance was gone.

And it was their own fault for not appreciating him while he was here.

It wasn't right, but they'd have to move forward without him.

No matter how much it felt like Keith had left a part of himself behind.

As he fell into a troubled sleep, still curled up in his jacket, Keith hoped that maybe things would turn out alright.

After all, Lance had never steered him wrong before, right?

* * *

_AN: So straight off the bat, I want you to know that I outlined/started writing this back after season 6 aired before season 7, because I thought that going back to Earth would be a road trip sort of deal but that in their urgency they'd wait until Earth to really confront any problems. And I thought this may happen when they got there considering the way the team treated Lance. Like, I know they care, but they really didn't treat him well and he felt isolated and alone. There's actual consequences to that here instead of Lance just shrugging it off and appearing more and more miserable as the show goes on._

_And with Lance's death, I know there's been some debate over whether he was dead or not, but Allura's only gone that type of glowy when restoring life so, I'm pretty sure that power surge electrocuted him to death in his pilot seat._

_Also, the new castleship is called Sekhmet, not Atlas because I feel like Atlas is overdone while Sekhmet is literally a warrior goddess and protector who can turn into a Lion. It makes sense._

_I'm gonna be bringing the True Blue Paladin back._


	2. Chapter 2 - Stagnation

Things were not alright.

Keith had always longed to go to space. He had nothing left for him on Earth, so to fly, to leave, to be among the stars had made sense. He knew that was where he belonged.

But now he had left something behind on Earth, and he was beginning to hate space.

Keith had hated being with the Blades. It had been lonely, he'd rarely talked to others, and the mission was always put before anything and everything else. He'd received way too many lectures about not simply abandoning his teammates, even when everything worked out. It had made him long for Team Voltron where yeah, he may still get lectured, but it was usually from Lance about how he'd risked his life and he should trust his teammates to have his back more.

And now he was back with the team, but it felt more like his time with the Blades.

For starters, there were now a lot more people on board the Sekhmet than there had been on the Castle. For now, it was mostly non-combatant personnel to run the ship and make sure Coran didn't have to do every little thing. Most of the people who would actually fight were still on Earth being trained and would join them once the support fighters and other necessary ships had been built. The Garrison had started on them already, but all progress on them had been halted in favor of rebuilding the new castleship to act as their mobile base.

Unlike the other Paladins, the emptiness of the Castle had never truly bugged Keith and he hated that he could only find some peace and alone time in his own room and if he trained too much there was always someone there judging him.

And because there were so many new people on board, Keith found it hard to know them all. He'd never liked being in crowds in the first place. Now, he was constantly surrounded by strangers so he'd often retreat to the part of the ship that housed the Paladins and their closest friends.

But more than anything, the thing that reminded him most of the Blades and raised his uneasiness with their latest voyage into space was the tension that flowed within the team. It was palpable to all of them, but no matter what they did or what they tried to change, it persisted and affected each of them differently.

Hunk and Pidge got too caught up in their work. Sometimes they did this together when working in the lab, sometimes it was separately, with Hunk in his lab or the kitchen while Pidge camped out in her lab. Either way, neither was getting enough sleep and it was leading Hunk to more anxiety spirals and Pidge being even more snappish than usual. Keith couldn't even count the amount of times he'd gone to check on them and was met with a barrage of comments on his intelligence. It got old pretty fast so Keith had just given up on trying to reign them in.

Allura… She was putting on a pretty big confident front in front of everyone, but Keith had caught sight of her curled up in dark corners by herself, her hands shaking. He never would have expected it from her, and he didn't know how to deal with it. Usually, when he found her like that he would send Coran or the mice after her, but even the elder Altean did not seem as exuberant as he normally did. Romelle was a real boon here, as she seemed to be the only person who could make Allura smile as she asked about their shared culture.

Shiro tried to hold the team together, encourage everyone just like he always did, but he had his own problems. He'd had enough problems with PTSD from his time as a prisoner of the Galra, but the aftereffects from being trapped in the astral plane and the traces of the clone's memories made everything that much harder. Shiro kept feeling guilty for things he had no control over or that he wasn't even technically there for. Keith tried to be there for him, but Shiro still saw him as a kid, so Keith knew that he wasn't going to rely on them. Keith was almost glad that Adam and Shiro had reconciled, because he knew that Adam would make sure to look after him.

And Keith…

Well, Keith hated being in space.

He thought he'd grown up, he thought he'd matured while in the quantum abyss, but he found himself falling back into his old habits all too easily. He found his irritation rising way too easily when others seemed to be purposely obtuse, and he found himself snapping at others way too much (even if in the moment it seemed justified). He glared at the judgemental eyes of the new crew that he faced when he threw himself into his training since he didn't have anything better to do. He avoided Hunk and Pidge, and often found himself alone, though Kosmo kept him company in their stead.

Everything was just like before Voltron happened, except he now had a space wolf and his mom's number on speed dial as she returned to doing missions for the Blade.

Unfortunately, the tension didn't stop there as each of them dealt with their own problems.

Because when it started affecting Voltron they all realized how bad things had gotten.

The first time they tried to form Voltron since returning to space, they couldn't do it.

Shock rang silently over the comms as it fully hit them.

Except for at the very beginning, even with all the switches and interpersonal drama that had befallen them, they had never failed to form Voltron.

It failed the second time, the third time, even a fourth time, their efforts not being helped by having to dodge laser blasts from Galra ships and trying to explain to Coran, who was commanding their support on the Sekhmet, why things were taking so long. The fifth attempt, they finally managed to form Voltron, but their connection was as shaky as a newborn fawn walking for the first time. It had never felt like this ever before.

They did what had to be done, but Keith knew that he at least had been left feeling as unsteady as Voltron had. Especially as their formation had collapsed the moment the threat was dealt with.

And as the team gathered in their common room, most of them wide-eyed in shock, Allura was the only one whose face was filled with thunder.

It was a look Keith unfortunately recognized, from some of the most harrowing moments at the beginning.

"This will not happen again." Allura hissed. "It seems we must resume team training."

Hunk groaned and exchanged a look with Pidge. For the first time in a while, Keith knew exactly where they were coming from.

For a moment, he hoped that things would be better this time around.

* * *

They weren't.

If anything else, their attempts at team building made things worse.

They struggled to form Voltron, and even when they did, it usually fell apart soon after.

They began to learn how to fight without it.

* * *

The problems began to pile up as it wasn't just in the Lions that things were going wrong.

Due to the shift in their tactics, they were spending a lot more time in their individual Lions and on the ground. And sure, in the past, they'd done a lot of missions that required them to be out of the Lions, but even when he was with the Blade, Keith couldn't remember it being this hard to fight.

The team would easily get overwhelmed by the remaining Galra forces. It seemed like there were suddenly even more of them despite the fact that there should be a lot less still in the game to control the empire. Every time Keith turned, there were more forces for him to slash down.

Not to mention that their plans were suddenly going off the rails a lot more quickly. Sure, their plans had always had to change usually mid-battle, and they tended to finish things off by the seat of their pants, but now they weren't even able to complete simple infiltration missions.

All they were supposed to do was sneak in and have Pidge hack the computers and get current troop movements. Instead, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge walked right into an ambush, having forgotten to take care of the secondary cameras that picked up heat signatures and that there was a parallel corridor that the Galra could use to cut them off. Such a small detail that it felt like someone should have pointed out when they were planning.

That was the mission where things finally came to a head.

Pidge exploded the moment they returned to Sehkmet's hanger. Part of Keith was glad that it was her instead of him, because his anger had been simmering under the surface ever since they'd barely escaped, the Lions having to come rescue them in the nick of time.

"What the heck was that?!" She rounded on Hunk, eyes blazing. "How could you let them get the drop on us!"

Hunk balked at the accusation. "Me? Why are you blaming me?!"

"_You're_ the one with a gun! You can give us distance and watch out for anyone approaching us!"

"It's a cannon! It's for crowd control and taking out large targets! You should know it doesn't help much in small spaces, especially if you guys insist on being so close to the enemy!"

"Oh, so now it's our fault!"

Pidge and Hunk devolved into bickering, their argument quickly getting more heated. Keith tried his best to sneak away, even as he could see Shiro and Allura making their way in, but Hunk's frustrations soon turned to him.

"And Keith? Do you have a death wish or something? You launched yourself at them!" Hunk accused him.

Keith balked. "You're getting mad at me for taking out a threat?!"

"No, it was reckless! You just dove right in there without a single thought and you weren't close enough for us to provide back-up!"

"Usually I don't have to worry about that!" Keith snapped, his temper flaring up and his fingers curling.

"Guys, what - " Shiro tried to intervene, but Pidge interrupted.

"Speaking of back-up, Lance, what were you - " Pidge blanched as her words hit her and it was like someone had opened an airlock.

The puzzle pieces fell into place, and Keith knew that he was not the only person whose eyes widened at the picture that formed.

A stunned silence rang through the hanger. It only took a moment before it became too overwhelming for Keith and he turned on his heel and walked out.

"Kei-" Shiro began to call out for him, but Keith cut him off.

"Don't."

Keith couldn't deal with it.

The reason for all of this was Lance.

Lance was the one who would make sure that none of them got too caught up in themselves and bad habits and coping methods. He was the one who would check on everyone and make sure they were all right.

Lance was the one who would try to release the tension with a joke or bonding activity, to make things lighter by just a little even when things were at their worst, even when they would snap and snarl at him despite relaxing at his words.

Lance was the one who would point out flaws in their plans, who would see the angles that they didn't see, even if they derided his points and made fun of him. He was the one who could make plans on the fly, adapting to what they had and/or needed, and would roll with the punches until they got through the crisis.

Lance was the one who would watch their backs in the field, probably taking out more targets than they would ever know. He would shoot down anyone before they even got near, before those on the ground could even notice them, and he would do it without thanks or thought about his own position.

Lance was the one who'd been there since the beginning, who'd been there for every formation of Voltron. He was the one who, now that Keith thought about it, had had a connection with every single one of them since the start, one way or another. He was the one who time after time would always bring them together.

Lance was the one who brought them all together in the first place when he spotted Keith from the top of a roof and decided that they all had to help rescue Shiro.

There was a buzzing in the pouch around Keith's waist, and he absently pulled out his ringing communicator as he stepped into his room.

INCOMING CALL… LANCE

A flash of heat ripped through Keith and he threw his communicator at the wall full force.

Luckily, Pidge had made their communicators as sturdy as an old-fashioned Nokia phone, so it just bounced off the wall and onto the floor before clattering to a stop. After a few seconds, the buzzing stopped, but after it vibrated in one last pulse, Keith knew he'd find yet another voicemail left on his phone.

Keith slumped against his closed door, the anger gone as quickly as it had come. He wiped his hand down his face.

"You thought you were the least important, the one who contributed nothing…" Keith muttered, mostly to himself, but his eyes settled on his phone.

Due to their negligence, Lance had left the team, sure that they'd be fine.

And yet without him, it seemed like all they were doing was falling apart.

* * *

Keith laid down on the couch, frowning at his communicator.

He'd listened to Lance's message. It was the same as usual: just updates on how training was coming, little anecdotes from Lance's day, something interesting that Lance had done with one relative or another. Lance frequently called, usually two to three times a week, but Keith could never bring himself to pick up. At first, Keith had still been some weird mix of angry and sad that he couldn't bring himself to face him. Then, as time went on, Keith didn't know how to apologize for ignoring his calls and he got an odd prickly feeling in his stomach at the thought of talking to him. It was better to just ignore Lance, and maybe Lance would get so busy that he'd forget.

Keith should've known better than to underestimate Lance's stubbornness. Lance still called and he always left a message that Keith would eagerly listen to later.

Keith tried to convince himself that it wasn't a big deal. After all, Lance called the others, too. This far from Earth they could only really get vocal and text messages, but every few weeks someone would talk about how Lance had gotten a call through to them.

Keith noted that no one else got as many calls as he did. He tried to ignore the way that thought made his face heat up.

It didn't matter though, because due to his awkwardness, it wasn't like Keith and Lance were going to talk anyway.

Keith sighed and closed his eyes, the hand clasping his space phone coming to rest on his forehead. He needed to figure out a way to get past this. After all, he _did_ want to talk to Lance, but if he answered a call now, it'd just -

"You know, you can always call him, right?"

Keith jolted upright and whirled in the direction of the voice.

Adam didn't even look up from his book; he just raised an eyebrow in response to him as he flipped a page.

"Adam - how - how long have you been here…?" Keith stumbled, a blush rising at having been caught sulking.

At this, Adam looked up, confused. "I was here when you walked in." A smile tugged at his lips. "Then again, you were a bit engrossed in your phone."

Keith wanted to sink into the ground. He really had been caught up in his thoughts, but he should've been paying more attention.

"Anyway," Adam turned back to his reading, "if you really want to talk to him, you can call him. Or you could actually answers when he calls. Communication is a two-way street, and at least he's trying."

Keith glowered at Adam. Between Adam and Shiro, Adam had generally been the sensible one, especially when it came to relationships. Shiro really tried to be more sensible, and he may have fooled practically everyone, but Keith could remember him attempting to do stunts with a hoverbike to impress Adam, so it didn't really work with him.

However, Keith also remembered Adam and Shiro's break-up when Shiro decided to go on the Kerberos Mission and the days where they remained civil in front of him to seem normal but weren't talking otherwise.

So Adam really didn't have room to talk.

"Keith, I can hear you thinking from here." Keith jumped again at his words. "Don't make Takashi's and my mistakes. Talk to him."

Keith's eyes slid to his communicator again. "What if… what if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

He could feel Adam's deadpan stare even before he glanced up to see the man tiredly push his glasses up his nose. "Exactly how many times has he called you in the past week?"

"Well…"

"Besides, apparently he gets all mopey about you not answering him or calling. I'm pretty sure everyone would be happier if you just called him already."

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. "How do you know that? Does he call _you_?"

"Well, yeah." Keith's jaw dropped but Adam shrugged him off. "I was his advisor back at the Garrison, so sometimes I _advise_ him. But he didn't tell me that you not talking to him is upsetting him.

"Veronica, on the other hand, does have a pair of eyes to see him moping though, and, as one does, she's eavesdropped on Lance whining to Rachel about you not calling."

A stirring of confusion went through Keith at who exactly Veronica and Rachel were, though the names sounded familiar, but he pushed it aside to weigh Adam's sincerity in his mind.

He knew that Adam was probably right.

Back when he was in the Blade, one of Lance's biggest complaints had been that he never tried to contact them, though he knew that Lance had at least attempted it via some stern, exasperated words from Kolivan about how Lance kept asking how he was and tried to break into a Marmoran communication frequency.

Even now, Lance was the one reaching out to Keith. Just like always.

And things had been at their best back when Keith had decided to meet him halfway.

That, more than anything, solidified Keith's resolve.

"Okay." He said quietly, and though he didn't look up again to see the smug approval probably on Adam's face, he knew it was there. "I'll answer next time he calls."

Adam chuckled, "You do that, kid."

Keith's grip on his phone tightened, even as a warm fluttering filled his chest at the thought of talking to Lance again.

He _would_ talk to Lance. He'd make sure of it.

* * *

_AN: So originally this was just one big Part 2. However, I have decided to split up my part 2 as there are some very distinct ideas in these parts. And the now part 3 is just, huge. There is a lot going on there. But I did want to try to finish this for Keith's birthday as he and Lance are the key players in this fic. So you'll get this part 2 on his birthday and I'll try to get part 3 out by this weekend._

_Anyway, have some Adam. I know we don't have a lot to go on for him canon-wise, but I do like the headcanons that he was Lance's advisor while at the Garrison and that he, Shiro, and Veronica knew each other. He's a pilot but he also double majored in communications so he can do either. Someone on the crew once mentioned that Shiro is kinda a disaster similar to Lance when he was younger, so I like to imagine Adam as the cooler, actual chiller one until you get him riled up of the two. And yeah, you'd think Keith would recognize Veronica at least, but I feel like Keith is terrible with names and faces. I fully support that whole 'Keith didn't recognize Lance because he thought he was named Taylor and Lance had a growth spurt while he was gone' theory._

_Also, have some pining Lance and Keith phone call angst courtesy of me reading Leopika fanfics and being inspired._


	3. Chapter 3 - Tide's Return

Unfortunately, it wasn't a call from Lance that came to them from Earth.

They had known it would be coming eventually, but they still weren't prepared for it.

The Galra had arrived on Earth.

The first words out of Allura's mouth after activating the alarm to call them to the bridge were to warn them of this. "We have received a distress signal from Earth." She was the calm of the storm as technicians and Coran scrambled about to ready the teludav. Her expression was pained though, as if reminded of the fate of her own planet. "But it's - "

"What?!" Keith snapped, patience already long gone as it had been over a couple weeks since Lance had last attempted to call him. His only consolation was that Lance didn't appear to be calling anyone else either. But between that and the clear and present danger to his home planet, he didn't understand why they weren't already on their way.

Allura pursed her lips, clearly trying to keep her own temper in check. "Apparently the signal is already several days old. There must have been some sort of interference in getting the message out."

Keith's insides turned cold.

They had all seen the destruction the Galra could cause in just a few hours. But with a few days…

_Lance… ?!_ He sucked in a sharp breath at the realization.

"To the Lions!" Shiro ordered, coming back the fastest from Allura's news. Pidge, Keith, and Hunk immediately complied, heading to the chutes leading to the Lions. "Join us as soon as we're through the wormhole." He told Allura, before giving Adam a quick kiss on the cheek as he passed his station on the bridge and followed through on his own orders.

Keith and the others launched out of Sekhmet just as the wormhole opened, and they escorted the ship through. Keith's hands tightened on the handles. This was the battle that they'd been preparing for since they'd first started, but he still didn't feel ready. The stakes seemed higher than ever.

It really made a difference that he actually had someone on Earth now.

Red attempted to soothe him with a comforting growl, but Keith frowned as he felt some part of her distracted, as if her mind was elsewhere. He sent her a questioning brainwave, but she merely sent him a wave of reassurance. He tried to brush off her concern that he could still feel, but it still lingered like a malignant cloud.

And besides, he couldn't pay it much mind as they emerged from the wormhole to find four Galran warships bearing down on Earth.

As he threw himself into the fray, he heard Pidge's cursing over the comms. "They must have gotten their jamming signal back up, because I'm not picking up any signals from Earth. I'll try to get us onto the same frequency!"

"Do as best you can." Shiro reassured her, as they all got caught up in the fight.

It actually wasn't as tough as Keith thought it would be. The experimental fighters that the Garrison finally finished and tested must have done some runs as the Galran fighters were fewer than one could expect from the number of warships present. It still wasn't as easy as it could have been as they were unable to form Voltron and Pidge had to take a backseat as she tried to hack into the Galra's communications to get around the interference.

And he was so focused on the fight that he didn't even notice that…

"Allura! What's taking you so long?" Shiro called out, sounding slightly harried as he ripped into the side of one of the warships.

...that Blue wasn't even fighting with them.

Over the comms, Keith heard Allura take a shaky breath. "She's not here."

"What?" Hunk yelped as he dodged a laser blast.

"What do you mean 'she's not here'?" Keith asked, but deep in his guts, he already knew exactly what she meant.

"Blue's not in her hanger." Allura sounded on the verge of tears, and Keith was suddenly reminded of another Blue Paladin, not too long ago, also breaking over a comm line due to their absent Lion. "I've been trying but - I can't feel her. I can't sense her. She's not - "

All of them took a second to mull that over, it was all they could afford in the heat of battle, before Shiro took charge. "Okay, we can work with this. Allura, return to the bridge and lead the assault from there. We'll figure out where Blue is later."

Keith sensed Allura's displeasure with the order. "Very well," she acquiesced. After all, what more could they do if Blue was truly missing?

As Keith distantly heard Allura taking charge of the Sekhmet over the comms, he instead turned his attention to the warships hanging over the Earth. The fighters were finally thinning out and some of the warships had actually been hovering within the atmosphere since before they got there. Hunk, clearly following the same wavelength, also began attacking these threatening ships.

It was as he and Hunk were striking one of these ships that was over the ocean that Pidge gave a triumphant, "Got it!" Static quickly cleared as they became connected to the Garrison communications, and Keith felt a surge of pride at her accomplishment.

That pride sizzled out as frantic words made their way through the dissipating static. "- DO NOT ATTACK! I REPEAT! RED AND YELLOW, CEASE YOUR ASSAULT! DON'T ATTACK THAT - "

The wave of alarm from Red at the words caused Keith to react instantly. He turned on a dime, narrowly avoiding hitting the ship that was already smoking and limping in the air. Red was fast and able to pull off such a feat instantly.

The Yellow Lion was not as capable of a quick change. Once Yellow got going, it was really hard to stop him.

Hunk collided with the ship. It was the final blow for the mostly wrecked ship as it burst into pieces, the smoldering parts dropping down into the waters below.

Normally such a sight wouldn't have affected Keith, but the voice on the other end of the Garrison line screaming in horror and the sudden clenching in his gut told him this was different.

Something was wrong.

"No no no no…" The voice from the Garrison, a woman's Keith realized, trailed off in despair.

Shiro naturally took charge. "Excuse me, why did you - "

"ARE YOU GUYS IDIOTS?!" Despair had turned to fury, as the woman snapped at them. "WHY DIDN'T YOU ESTABLISH COMMUNICATION BEFORE ATTACKING?!"

"I had to work around their jamming signal! I only just got it working!" Pidge protested.

"And you should have been allowed to do that! Not started attacking them right out the gate! Communication is important!" It sounded like someone was trying to get the woman away from the comm line, but she stayed where she was.

Irritation over this whole situation boiled over. "Sorry for trying to take out the threat when we got here!" Keith snapped back. "You sent a distress signal!"

"And if you'd shown up when we first sent it five days ago, before they started fully blocking us, that would've been fine! But we've made due since then!" She yelled. "They are barely a threat! We've already taken out their large cannons with our missions, so all they can really do is harass you with their fighters! Besides, our information has told us that they're waiting for the main flagship as back-up!"

That made Keith pause, even as he dodged another fighter. _She's right._ All they'd really have had to deal with since getting here was the fighters. The actual warships had just been… hanging there. Not doing anything. No signs of any of the large and powerful cannons they'd had to deal with in the past.

"Marino," Keith was glad that Shiro at least recognized the woman, though there was something about her that felt familiar to him, "I understand your frustration but that's not - "

"MY BROTHER WAS ON THAT SHIP!"

There was a startled silence that hung suspended in the air. Keith shivered, feeling as if a guillotine's blade was over their necks.

_Wait… a woman… Marino… brother… _

With a click, Adam's voice joined them on the comms from his position on the bridge. "Veronica, what do you mean Lance was on that ship?"

Veronica. Lance's sister who was about Shiro's age. The one with the glasses and the teasing smile who had jokingly asked while Keith was visiting about making sure he and Lance connected with a wink.

Who was apparently a member of the Garrison. Probably who Adam had mentioned being friends with before.

Veronica took a shuddering breath, and Keith was amazed at how quickly she managed to compose herself. "The MFE fighters can only make short runs before they have to recharge. Lance led the initial assaults on that first day, but we quickly realized we wouldn't get far with that since our signal was being jammed and you wouldn't be able to reach us quickly.

"So Lance proposed a plan where we'd do quick flybys and drop several people onto the ship to interfere and buy us time, as well as hopefully take out their signal. Lance is familiar enough with the ships to know where to hit them where it hurts. And that's what we've been doing the past few days. With the fighters acting as a distraction, Lance would lead a team onto the ships, they'd take down the cannons and gather intelligence, and then escape using a pod to be picked up by a different MFE fighter.

"But today," Veronica's voice shook again, "on that ship, something went wrong; the Galra knew they were coming. They were nearly caught after finally taking out the jamming signal. Lance managed to get the team into the escape pod, but he stayed behind to buy them time… and…"

"No…" Allura's voice was faint. And from the way Hunk was whimpering, Keith could almost see the green invading his complexion. He could understand why. After all, Hunk had dealt the final blow.

And Keith couldn't help but believe her. It was all just so… Lance. Taking charge. Leading the way around Galra ships. Sacrificing himself for his team.

"I'm… sorry." Shiro said, heavy with emotion. "You're right; we should've made contact and assessed the situation before jumping in. We just panicked a bit with how the distress signal came late."

Veronica sniffled. The words didn't make anyone feel better.

But war didn't wait, and even as it felt like his chest was being strangled in a vice, even as his eyes burned and his hands trembled, even as his heart shattered, filled with all the things he had never told Lance, Keith knew he had to carry on.

With a scream, Keith tore through the remaining fighters. He and Red were almost literally on fire as they sped through them, and he didn't stop until the skies were clear. He wasn't even sure how he took them all out, his memories were such a blur. He panted from the deluge of emotion.

It still hurt.

"Keith…" Black hovered over him, and the worry in Shiro's voice was enough to set Keith's teeth on edge.

He stubbornly kept his eyes down, not looking up as Shiro apparently decided it was safe enough to bring up the video comms.

Huh. Was he really sweating enough for him to be dripping into his lap? That was the only reason Keith could think of as to why liquid was falling down his cheeks and chin.

"Are you… are you sure he was on that ship? Did you have any way of tracking him?" Pidge asked, moving forward like she always did, already trying to think of their next move.

"No, maybe if he'd been wearing his MFE suit, but for these infiltration missions, he's been wearing his old Voltron armor."

"Then I should be able to find him!" He could hear hope spark in Pidge as she began clicking away on her tracking mechanism. "We installed trackers in all of the helmets so we'd hopefully be better able to find each other when separated. And he's right… here!"

A red dot blipped into existence on a map on one of Keith's screens.

"Alright, I'll head over to the Garrison to begin the debrief. Keith and Shiro, you should join me while Pidge and Hunk - "

Keith was gone before Allura was even finished giving her orders.

"Keith!" Shiro called for him, looking slightly panicked over the comm screen, but Keith turned off the visual feed with a flick of his wrist.

As if he was going to stay back for talking when there was even an iota of a chance of finding Lance.

He heard Hunk swear softly over the comms, but both he and Pidge followed in Keith's wake. All other noise on the comms was disregarded as white noise as Keith raced towards Lance's signal.

Red balked as Keith approached the ocean. "C'mon, it's for Lance." He muttered. She continued forward, but Keith could tell that she wasn't pleased being near so much of her opposing element.

Keith activated his scanners, hoping to pinpoint the exact location. There was an unfortunate amount of debris floating around, making it hard to pinpoint the distinctive Voltron suit among the waves.

Keith tried to smother any shreds of hope, but he couldn't help it. _Lance is the best swimmer I know. He's survived worse than this. Lance always makes it through._

A treacherous part of his brain revealed his worst fears though. _The last time you left Lance behind, he died. And this time there was no Allura to save him._

The scanners finally pinged off Lance's signal, and Red drifted downwards, nudging Keith to get a closer look. He followed her lead, hopping out of his chair and hurrying through the Lion as she willingly opened her jaw so he could get a better view.

His eyes searched for a moment, and then his heart dropped when he spotted it.

"Do you see him?" Pidge asked over the comm as she and Hunk finally caught up and hovered overhead.

Keith hesitated, before he reached out. "No." He grasped the blue and white object bobbing in the water. "It's just his helmet."

Disappointment blanketed Keith even though he should have known better. He clutched Lance's helmet close to his chest, taking in the cracked and broken glasslike visor and traces of red inside the helmet itself.

With this, any chance of Lance being alive were gone. Even if Lance had somehow survived the warship's destruction, he wouldn't have been able to survive in the water. Lance may be the best swimmer Keith knew, but even he couldn't hold his breath for this long, and a lost helmet took away his only method of breathing underwater.

If he'd even been alive by the time they'd started their attack.

Lance was _known_ in the Galra empire. Both from their many attacks against the empire and from those stupid shows the team had done. They knew he was a Paladin, and his armor would have confirmed it. Why would they have let him, their enemy, live?

Keith didn't know what would be worse: Lance being killed by the Galra, Lance dying as they ripped the warship apart, or Lance drowning in the waters he had loved so much.

"Keith, are you okay?"

Keith jumped at Shiro's voice and realized he was once more sitting in the pilot's seat. He didn't even remember walking back to the cockpit. The lights on his console showed that Shiro was talking to him on a private line.

"I'm fine." And even Keith winced at how thick his voice was. He looked down once more at the helmet in his hands, then he stood and quickly stored it in one of Red's compartments. He'd have to give it to Lance's family later. "Just - sorry. I haven't been paying much attention."

Keith could just tell Shiro was about to say something comforting and sympathetic but that was the last thing he wants right now, so he traded the private line for the regular line and tuned back in to what's going on.

"Excellent job gathering information." Allura complimented as Keith sees Sekhmet approaching the planet. "However, do you have any idea when Sendak and the rest shall arrive?"

_Sendak?_ It was freaking Sendak behind this?! How much had Keith missed?

"From what we can tell," Veronica informed them, "whatever his secret project is was supposed to be done within a few days of the first scouting ship arriving on Earth. So it really could be…"

A wormhole opened up over the Earth, attracting each of the Lions' attention.

"... any time now." Veronica weakly finished.

Through the wormhole emerged one of the largest warships Keith had ever seen. The sight of it sent a thrill of fear down Keith's spine, but then anger sparked anew and he gripped Red's handles tight.

_Sendak always warned that he would hit us where it hurts. And now he has in more ways than one._

He targeted their home planet. He sent warships to pave the way for his arrival. His men captured Lance when he and his team were escaping. He was the reason Lance was dead.

Keith was going to make him pay.

Allura was cursing. "I didn't realize any of the druids besides Haggar were left." Keith could practically hear her silently berating herself.

"None of us thought of that." Shiro reminded her before he took charge. "Paladins, let's go."

The four Lions went to battle once more as Sekhmet pulled a U-turn to back them up in battle. Unfortunately, the MFE fighters still weren't fully charged, but Veronica promised they'd be out as soon as possible.

Within a few seconds, Keith knew they'd need it. Unlike the fairly easy fight that had greeted them, Sendak's ship had not been slowly worn down by Earth's forces. This ship was fully armed and had its whole host of fighters to send after them. The swarm of fighters was so thick that none of them could even get close to the warship.

And something told Keith that they needed to get closer before something terrible happened.

It didn't help that all of them had already been through a fight already, and combined with the news about Lance…

They weren't doing so hot.

Keith could feel Allura's frustration growing by the minute, even as Sekhmet's defenses helped cut through the waves of fighters. "Blue, where are you?" She growled. "Why aren't you answering me?"

It was odd given Blue's title as the friendliest Lion to cut her off so suddenly. Plus her Paladin was cleary in dire straits, so what exactly was she doing? They needed Voltron! If they managed to form, they would be able to cut through these fighters like tissue paper, and whatever Sendak was planning would surely need it.

"I know this helps, that we do need someone to lead our back-up," Allura continued. "But do you really expect me to stay on the sidelines? Why aren't you - " Her breath caught. "I have to fight. To protect everyone, I need to fight!"

Without warning, Sekhmet burst into light.

Pidge, who was closest at the time, yelped and steered back away from it. The bright light caught everyone's attention and for a moment, the battle came to a standstill.

"Allura, are you alright?!" Shiro yelled into the comms, but he received no reply.

In what felt like hours but was probably only a few seconds, the light faded away and in its place…

The White Lion.

Given Sekhmet's larger size, the White Lion towered over the Voltron Lions. Her body gleamed the same white as Sekhmet's hull, and she shook her massive head and mane as if just waking up from a long nap. And then she set her glowing yellow eyes on Sendak's warship and roared.

"Allura?!" Shiro's panicked yell jolted Keith from his shock, and he heard a clicking noise as Shiro tried to get her up on screen.

"I don't remember us designing _that_ into the ship…" Pidge weakly muttered as Hunk just repeatedly said, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" under his breath.

With a beep, the video comm sprang up on Keith's screen revealing Allura and the rest of Sekhmet's bridge.

Allura was aglow, but it wasn't with the usual pink of her alchemic powers. Instead, a white light came off her and as she opened her eyes, Keith saw that her eyes were also overtaken by the light.

"I am the White Lion." She intoned, her voice both hers but also ringing with a power not her own. "And this is my chosen Paladin.

"Protect the universe and you shall have my aid."

The glow faded from her eyes, but the White Lion's aura didn't stop surrounding her as she blinked back into consciousness. She glanced around in awe, before turning to her stunned crew and Paladins.

Allura grinned.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked. "Let's get to it!"

As if the pause button in a video game was pressed, the video comm clicked off and the battle resumed once more. With Allura and the White Lion ripping through the ranks, it became a lot easier to deal with the fighters, and to no one's surprise, they soon called a retreat, withdrawing back to the warship.

But that just left a different kind of anxiety in its place. It felt like they were dangling on the edge of a cliff. They had no idea what Sendak had in store for them now.

"Okay, so what - " Pidge began to ask when their communication line was hijacked.

"Paladins," Sendak's familiar sneer echoed over the line, "it seems you're one Lion short. Or has it been replaced by this new monstrosity?"

Keith and Red growled in tandem. Tension crackled over the line as all of their hackles were raised.

"Must not have been too important." Sendak hummed thoughtfully. "After all, while I told my men they could play with him, I did make sure your little Blue Paladin would be left alive for me to deal with myself." He laughed. "And here you struck him down yourselves."

From the corner of his eye, Keith could see Hunk and Yellow practically vibrating. It took a lot to get Hunk truly mad, and Sendak was right about to tip Hunk over the edge. Fury curled in Keith's own chest.

_How dare he..._

Luckily, Allura took the lead. "This planet is protected, Sendak. Leave now or face the consequences." White fell into a pouncing stance.

Sendak seemed to contemplate that before a rasp chuckle rang through the comm. "Perhaps this will be the end. But my men and I would rather die than surrender to you filth. We shall raise the empire anew! Vrepit sa!" He exited the line just as the warship began to shift.

Gigantic doors on its hull began to open and from it descended some sort of capsule. A prickling feeling in his guts told Keith it was bad news, and he shot forward, intent on taking it out before it could fully emerge.

He slammed into a force field before he could even blink. Red bounced off it and Keith took a moment, slightly dazed from the whiplash, before he ventured closer and attempted using his laser to break up the shield.

It didn't work.

Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro tried to demolish the shield to take out this threat but it was too strong. It was too similar to the shield at Naxzela and that just pushed Keith harder to take it out. Allura and White started charging up her main cannon to destroy it but Shiro called it off, because if it ricocheted the consequences could be deadly.

Hunk, however, was apparently on a different train of thought as the capsule came out into the open and fell away to reveal something that looked like a giant black circuit-patterned egg. "This has to be whatever Sendak was cooking up, right? Do we have any idea what it is?"

"We couldn't find any exact name for it in the information we extracted, just descriptions of what it was." Veronica explained, finally turning away from her inquiries as to how close the MFE fighters were to fully charged. "Lance seemed to recognize it though. The blood drained from his face when we were finished translating the data at least."

The egg began to crack.

"Lance called it… a robeast."

"Oh, quiznak." Pidge said what they were all thinking as the egg exploded outward.

It had been ages since they'd faced a robeast. Quite frankly, Keith had been hoping that there was no one left to make them as they hadn't seen any since they had managed to take down Zarkon that first time. Because you never quite knew what you'd get from these things.

This one seemed more energy based, not as solid as any that had come before it. Its body, as it were, was made of dark red energy spiraling into a humanoid form that reminded Keith of the old Slenderman tales from his cryptid research. From this "body" extended whips and tentacles of that red energy that crackled with electricity and Keith could just tell they'd hurt. Worse of all, the pieces of the "egg" continued to float around it, but now they seemed to move with purpose.

Though it didn't appear to have any eyes, Keith could feel the weight of its gaze on them.

Without warning, it struck.

Keith dodged and weaved around the limbs that cracked past him, barely avoiding blows and keeping out of its tendrils. He did his best to strike with his lasers, but Keith's aim had never been the best when it came to firing weapons and he kept missing. Still, he managed to avoid the brunt of the assault.

However, the other Lions weren't exactly built for speedy dodging.

Hunk cursed softly every time those tentacles wrapped around Yellow, but he managed to activate his claw extensions to more easily cut through them. However, the sight of the cut bands of energy snaking back to each other to reform did not bring much hope for a short fight.

Pidge yelped whenever Green was brushed, her Lion not as heavily armored to protect her from the electrical surges, but she was still dodging better than Hunk given her smaller size.

Keith was pretty sure the only reason why Shiro had managed to avoid damage was due to his piloting skills. Black may not have been as fast as Red, but Shiro was able to draw out his full potential and used the debris of the destroyed fighters floating in orbit to act as a barrier between the robeast and himself.

Allura, White, and the crew of Sekhmet were not as lucky. Sure, White had power, strength, and size (Keith was fairly sure he'd seen White release a laser roar earlier that reminded him of some memes Pidge had insisted on showing him), but mobility and flexibility were not really her best features. Considering she housed a full crew and was made to carry the other Lions, that made sense. So Allura tried to catch hold of the robeast, but it was like a cat chasing after a laser dot with it always slipping through her paws.

Plus, those shell pieces were causing problems all on their own. There must have been some sort of telekinetic link between the robeast and the pieces, because on the few occasions someone did manage to almost hit it, the shell would link together to create a shield and block the blow. They'd also latch onto the end of the whips to create better battering attacks.

The robeast was fighting rings around them and they were practically helpless to stop it.

"We're giving it too many targets!" Keith shouted as the robeast slipped between him and Hunk once more.

"Pidge, does it have any weaknesses?" Shiro asked, cursing as it demolished the fighter remnants he'd sent towards it as a distraction in hopes of getting closer.

"Uh, it appears to have a mechanical and organic core that acts as the control center." Pidge answered in between dodging attacks and her analysis finished. "But it's in the center of all that red energy, so we can't get to it."

Hunk grunted. "We need Voltron! We'll be more mobile than White and have enough power to push our way through!"

"You think we don't know that?!" Keith screeched as the robeast disappeared into the debris field. His eyes twitched back and forth, trying to find it before it could attack again.

"Keith, you don't - look out!" Shiro's worry slammed into Keith as he whirled around to come face to face with the robeast's shells heating up bright red at the end of several tentacles, which could not be a good sign. He saw the glow of laser beams start to shine from the shells.

Keith would never be able to get out of the way in time. He flinched back and shut his eyes in preparation.

_Lance…_

_I'm sorry._

He braced himself, and then…

And then…

Nothing.

Keith peeked out one eye and then opened the other.

He was alive.

How…?

He looked up at the view screen and blinked in confusion.

The pieces of shell that had been creating the lasers were destroyed. The robeast's tentacles had recoiled from the impact, just as shocked as the rest of them.

What had…

Allura's gasp was the first hint of what had conspired; the click on the comms that followed was the second.

But the chuckle coming down the line revealed the truth.

"Hey, guys," the voice was rough but Keith could hear the smile behind it, "I heard you could use another Lion?"

Keith's eyes widened as a blur of blue streaked across the skies, lasers firing from it at a rapid pace to accurately hit the shell pieces and eliminate them.

"Lance?" Keith called softly, but it was overshadowed by Pidge and Hunk's gleeful cries of "Lance!"

In moments, the video comm popped up and there he was.

Lance.

He sat in Blue's pilot seat, face fully exposed due to his lack of helmet allowing Keith to see that familiar beaming grin and sparkling eyes, full of life. He was drenched, water literally dripping off him and some mingling with blood spilling down the side of his face from just above his left eye.

Undeniably Lance.

And undeniably alive.

Keith felt like an anchor had been cast away from his chest so he could breathe freely and it instead kept him centered so he didn't float away.

"Did you really think I'd die so easily?" Lance joked, eyes flicking over to whatever screens showed them and his smile never faltering. "I mean, Keith was incommunicado for _how long_ with the Blade and we never started planning his funeral."

Keith scowled, even as some part of him relaxed at the words. "Not funny." Because it was way too soon to be making jokes about Lance dying.

Preferably never.

"LEANDRO ALEJANDRO MARINO-DIAZ, YOU GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!" Lance jumped at Veronica's shout, and Keith heard Pidge snicker at the reaction.

"I uh, yeah, I will." Lance stammered. Despite the distractions, Blue weaved through the debris like water in a brook, continuing to use her tail laser to fire shots. "Can we kick Sendak's butt first?"

"Excellent idea." Shiro didn't hesitate for a second more. "Form Voltron!"

"Right!"

This time, unlike every attempt in recent memory, they came together seamlessly. In a flash, Voltron stood, proud and strong.

No shakiness, no tentativeness. The bond between them and Voltron itself was stronger than steel.

Through their bond, Keith could feel the stirrings of confusion coming from Lance as everyone else felt a surge of relief, but unfortunately there was no time to answer Lance's unasked question.

The robeast had finally recovered and returned to the offense.

Without prompting, Keith and Pidge shoved their bayards into their ports to form their weapons. Voltron's sword and shield excelled at blocking its attacks and made quick work of the tendrils, but they needed a new plan. The robeast was pretty much regenerating as fast as they were shredding the tentacles.

"Lance, how were you able to destroy the shell bits?" Shiro asked as Voltron's sword glanced off them once more to Keith's frustration.

"One hit wasn't enough to do it, but if I fired shots to the same point in quick succession, the first two shots would weaken it and the third would destroy it before it could recover." Lance explained as Voltron danced out of the way of another attack. "The red parts seem to recover easily, but the shell doesn't if you actually destroy it."

"What we really need is to take out its core! If we could get rid of that, this thing would be toast." Pidge pressed.

"Well, the sword isn't working. Hunk, do you think your shoulder cannon could hit it?" Shiro asked.

"No, it's too widespread; it's not really made for the precise hit that we need."

"Well, maybe we could - " Lance cut himself off with an inquiring noise.

"What?" Keith asked as he parried the robeast's attacks.

"The bayard port just opened…" Lance sounded a bit dazed and Keith didn't know if it was his head injury or if he was surprised that the port had actually opened just for him.

And given the usual form that Lance's bayard took, it wasn't hard to guess what his Voltron weapon would be.

"If you could lure him into position, I could use White's cannon as a momentary distraction to let Lance take his shot." Allura was luckily on the same wavelength as them. "It may also disrupt its energy somewhat."

"Excellent. Lance, be prepared!" Shiro ordered as they led the robeast into their trap.

"Gotcha!"

They all tensed as they acted as bait but Allura was prepared and as soon as the robeast was in her sights, White roared out a blast with her main laser.

"Now!" Shiro yelled, and Pidge and Keith deactivated their bayards just as Lance activated his.

A sniper rifle formed in Voltron's hands and Lance had them swing it up to Voltron's eye as he took aim with it, predicting where the robeast would reappear. Keith heard him take a breath in as the glow of White's blast began to fade.

Lance took the shot as he exhaled.

It ended in a second.

The laser blast flew straight and true. Keith had a brief glimpse of the metal of the robeast's exposed core as the robeast was left afloat from Allura's attack. And then Lance's shot went right through it. The red energy flickered once, twice and then completely dissipated, leaving the remnants of its core and shell behind.

They all cheered, and Keith could hear the cheers from White and the Garrison as well through the comm line.

"That's our sharpshooter!" Pidge yelled, and Keith could hear her bouncing in her seat.

"Nice one, buddy!" Hunk joined in.

Keith smiled. "Good job." He said softly, not even sure if Lance would hear him over the ruckus.

He'd had no doubt that Lance would be able to do it.

Lance laughed. "Thanks." He simply said.

Shiro chuckled, too. "I'm happy we beat it, too, but the fight's not over yet."

The mood instantly sobered, and they turned to meet Sendak head-on.

Only to see a wormhole closing and Sendak's ship completely gone.

"He ran away?!" Keith yelled, indignant. Sendak showed up, caused all this crap, and then just left. The nerve.

"With his robeast gone, he would've been at a disadvantage now that we have both the White Lion and Voltron." Allura mused. "It makes sense."

Keith scowled, because he didn't particularly care about it making sense. He wanted to hunt Sendak down and make him pay for what he did to Lance.

Speaking of which...

"Alright, everyone, back to the Garrison." Shiro said, and Voltron disbanded. It almost felt weird to be able to break up so freely when lately it had just fallen apart the moment they weren't forcing it together.

With a flash, the White Lion was just the Sekhmet once more. Keith would be wondering how that all worked, especially given the number of people who were needed to keep Sekhmet running, but he had bigger issues on hand.

As they flew back to the Garrison, Keith kept a close tail on the Blue Lion and parked next to her when it came time to land. He rushed out of Red and saw Lance walking out of Blue, holding his side and stepping very carefully, just as he rounded Red's paw.

Lance perked up as he noticed his approach. "Hey, Keith." He raised his free arm. "Welcome ba - "

"You stupid idiot!" Keith violently hugged Lance, drawing him in for a hug as Lance gave a startled squeak.

Keith knew that he probably shouldn't do this. After all, with all he'd been through, who knew what sort of injuries laid beneath Lance's armor? Lance needed to get to medical, they all needed to debrief…

But Keith needed this more.

Lance was alive. He was here, right in Keith's arms and encircling his own arms around Keith to return the hug.

"Hey," Lance said softly, "I'm okay."

"But you almost weren't." Keith felt his eyes burn again, but he refused to let any tears fall, not this time. Not when Lance was perfectly, well mostly, fine despite everything that in any other circumstance would've killed him.

The fact that Lance wasn't refuting him made the sentiment hit home even harder.

"I was going to answer." Keith admitted. He wasn't sure why he was saying it. "Next time you called, I was going to answer."

Lance blinked. Keith could feel it. At the same moment, he realized that Lance had gotten taller than him again. "You actually listened to my messages?"

"Of course!" Keith stepped back a bit to gaze up slightly into Lance's eyes. "I - "

"LAAAAAAAAAAAANCE!" Hunk scooped them both up into a bear hug from out of nowhere. This time Lance actually hissed in pain, prompting Hunk to immediately set them down.

As he did so, Pidge slid into place next to him, slipping her glasses onto her nose and giving Lance a flat glare. "You." She poked him in the chest. "You are not allowed to go dying on us again."

"Yeah, man," Hunk sobbed, tears overflowing down his face, "you cannot do that to us."

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Lance flashed them a strained smile, "it's not like I do it on purpose."

"Your sister said that you stayed behind to buy time! That is clearly on purpose!"

"I legit thought I killed you, dude!"

Their argument was cut short by Shiro and Allura coming up between them. "Lance," Shiro gave him a relieved smile, "excellent job out there."

Allura and Lance only stared at each other though. Lance cracked first, "I would apologize for taking Blue from you, but it seems that a different Lion has called dibs on you." He smiled sheepishly.

Allura laughed softly before pulling Lance into a quick hug. "I believe Blue has been waiting a long time to reclaim you." She said. "She's missed you dearly."

The two parted and shared a smile, and then Allura turned away to make her way into the Garrison.

"Now we really should get you to medical." Shiro hinted at the order as he followed Allura.

"Yeah, plus it sounds like Veronica's gonna have some _words_ with you." Both Hunk and Pidge snickered and took their leaders' lead.

"Oh, joy." Lance flatly said as he and Keith just stood there.

And they remained that way for a few seconds. Keith wasn't exactly sure what they were supposed to do with themselves. With what he had almost admitted -

His racing thoughts were cut off as a large hand wound its fingers with his. The same hand that had guided him to the beach all those months ago.

Keith looked up.

Lance smiled, a gentle smile meant just for him. "C'mon." He tugged Keith's hand and lead the way to the Garrison.

Keith knew that they were going to have to have another talk. This time, he felt like it would have more to do with them than Lance's position in Voltron. That it was time for Keith to get some things off his chest.

Though Keith got a feeling that Lance had some things to admit, too.

A hopeful flame sparked in Keith's chest once more, and Keith didn't think it would be doused with disappointment.

But first they had some work to do.

Lance needed help, they had to discuss the return of robeasts and druids, they should figure out what Sendak's next move was, they would probably be hearing back from the Blades about the Alteans at any time now -

And yet, all Keith could think about -

All Keith cared about -

"Hey," Lance was looking back at him and grinning, his eyes alight with the glow of life, "welcome back, mullet."

Keith smirked in return, stepping up to walk side by side with Lance, their fingers still entwined. "Welcome back yourself, sharpshooter."

Lance was back.

And despite everything else, that meant that all was right in the universe.

* * *

_AN: Okay, so, first off:_

_IF ANYONE ON THE TEAM WAS GOING TO GET THEIR OWN PERSONAL GIANT ROBOT, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLURA! You know, the one who has magical alchemy abilities? Who's journey ended up having nothing to do with her being a paladin but focused on her own personal goals and abilities? THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY MET THE WHITE LION AND PASSED ITS TRIAL?_

_Sorry, that's one of many things I am salty about. Like Paladin Allura seemed cool at first, but they didn't really do anything with it except create unnecessary angst and spit in the face of all the lore they'd established up until that point. So yeah, if they were gonna do it, they should've done something with it. Besides, Allura had foreshadowing as the Lion Goddess, so yeah, this ties back to that._

_Next thing, the original Lion set-up just works so much better (both for the Paladins involved and as a team dynamic) which is why I returned to it._

_And why didn't Lance ever get to form a Voltron weapon? Like I was salty in general about Shiro never actually getting to use his bayard, but like, they teased Lance forming a Voltron weapon in the comics (saying it wasn't the right time) and then he never got to use it in the show. The wings of Voltron being Keith and Lance is sweet and all, but Lance never got his moment to shine. Not to mention that all of those awesome add-ons to the Lions that they made such a big deal about in S2 were pretty much never seen again._

_And the robeasts? The basis of Voltron as a franchise is giant robot fights robeasts and we only got like 3 in the entire show and they're all in the first 2 seasons. Those had so much potential and they just dropped it for essentially bigger and bigger Voltron knockoffs. Ugh._

_And this is a build-up to Klance as you can tell though I'm not going to be getting more into it._

_So like I said, I started this fic after season 6 as how I imagined the following seasons would go, and while this is pretty much everything I originally planned (though looking at my initial outline I ended up changing Lance's situation and set-up when they got to Earth, though Blue rescuing him was the same), I also added some stuff from what I was angry about._

_I do have one more thing to deal with this story that should be coming soon. It'll be from Lance's POV._


End file.
